


But Nobody Came

by BurnEverything



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Bad Puns, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, POV Third Person, Sad, Science Experiments, Suggestive Themes, Torture, We got it all folks, because fuck me right?, evil gaster, except for romance, puns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-20
Updated: 2016-01-03
Packaged: 2018-05-08 01:15:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5477660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BurnEverything/pseuds/BurnEverything
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are only so many days you can spend waiting for a human to show up. Sans hits a dead end with his work and decides to call up his old pal Gaster. But chilling in the void isn’t kind to a person’s disposition. Things get out of control.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Watt are you gonna do?

**Author's Note:**

> Please do review. I don't always respond, but they make me very happy when I get them. Like, very happy. It’s like theres a little sun inside my heart. If you want to talk to me, why not scream into the void until you can no longer separate yourself from the horror that is existence? Thats what I did. I'm happy to try and answer any questions about the plot of this story, I know there will probably be questions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have any triggers concerning abuse or depression, just don’t read this. Also, I would recommend looking up all the stuff about W.D. Gaster, cause I ain’t explaining shit. My favorite head cannon for Gaster is the sweet dad meme shitposting trash Gaster, but I went with something a little different for this self indulgent thing.

There were two types of nights in Snowdin. The first kind runs through the wilderness screaming, tearing the snow off the trees. The second is soft and empty, with a kind of anti-glow about it. That night was the second type. The darkness beyond the woods seemed hungrier than usual. Snow drifted down from the sky like dead fireflies. 

Sans stood in his lab for a good fifteen minutes, just staring at the machine. The light on top of it was flashing green. It filled the room with a low drone. He exhaled slowly, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet. Several of the lights in the lab had gone out and the machine was casting a long shadow on the wall. Sans took a bottle of ketchup out of his pocket and opened it. He chugged almost all of it in a big gulp, then turned his back on the machine. He took a few steps toward the door, and stopped. The drone of electricity filled the room.

Sans downed the rest of the ketchup. It fell through his empty rib cage and soaked his shirt. Clenching his fists, he turned around again, strode toward the machine, and flipped the on switch. A quick, whirring sound layered onto the drone already filling the room and several lights on the machine flickered awake. The fluorescent lab lights flickered.

The shadows of the room began to move on their own, gathering in the center of the floor. They rose to form a shape, a shape that was eerily familiar to Sans. The lights shook, the machine buzzed, then everything faded back to normal. 

Sans swallowed, wiping sweat off his forehead. “Hey, Doc!” 

Gaster turned and Sans felt his heart skip a beat. The doctor’s body was a melting mess. Only his boney face and hands stood out as landmarks. “Sans?” His voice was distorted.

“Yeah, it’s me. A-are you ok?”

“I feel excellent.” The darkness around Gaster shifted and he rose a couple inches.

“You do?” Sans laughed nervously. “That’s great. Wow, I can’t believe you’re actually here.”

“You found a way to bring me back?”

“Yeah. I was pretty worried about you.”

“I thought we agreed I wasn’t coming back.”

“Did we? You didn’t leave behind a lot of clear instructions.”

Gaster frowned. “I suppose not. How long do I have?”

“As long as the machine’s running, we’re good to go.” Sans said. “It’s eating up a lot of juice, so me and Papyrus might have to go with power for a few days, but, hey, watt are you gonna do? Heheh. Get it?”

Gaster didn’t laugh. Sans started to sweat. 

The doctor had a vacant look on his face. “You brought me here for a reason I presume?”

Sans rubbed his head. “Other than I wanted to see you again? Well I do have a lot of questions. I’ve been getting the impression that things aren’t going so good. The human… worst case scenario… am I able to stop them?”

Gaster shook his head.

“…Aright.” 

“It is good that you’ve brought me back.” Gaster said. “I’ve gain a lot of helpful information. There are a few experiments I’ve been meaning to run which require subjects. If I’m right, I should be able to give you enough power to end this once and for all. Has the human showed up in this timeline yet?”

“Not yet.”

“Good. You remember the procedure we used in the lab, correct?”

“Yeah,” Sans closed his left eye involuntarily. “I remember. I don’t have any equipment though.”

“It’s fine. I’ll improvise.”

“Um. Doc?”

“What is it? Are you having second thoughts?”

Sans hesitated, then shrugged. “Its what needs doing right? I’m happy to help you out, as always.”

Gaster’s molten face folded into a smile. “Thank you.”

“No prob.” Sans was happy to see a glimmer of emotion from his old friend. Gaster oozed enthusiastically around the lab, wringing his hands and checking the drawers. It was a little weird, after all this time, having him here like nothing had happened. But there was something undeniably familiar about Gaster’s expression.

Sans stuffed his hands in his pockets. “So uh, you don’t look half bad… considering…”

“I haven’t exactly had a chance to look in a mirror.” Gaster said.

“Heheh. … I gotta ask.” Sans said. “What was it like? The void? Can you tell me about it?”

“I’m afraid I can’t,” Gaster said, taking a vial of glowing stuff and absorbing it into his amorphous body. “It’s like if a 2D life form asked you to explain what a 3D world is like. I could describe it in detail, but nothing would truly impress upon you the nature of it.”

“Wow.” Sans eyes were glowing. “I’m flabergastered.”

“With my new abilities, I can give you power directly.” Gaster said. “Lift up your shirt.”

Sans sniggered. “Geez doc, at least buy me dinner first.” “Quit goofing around,” Gaster said.

“Common, your smiling. Aren’t you?” Sans squinted at Gaster’s face but it was hard to tell. He looked like he was always smiling. Sans shrugged. “Eh, just trying to lighten the mood.”

He pulled his shirt up. Gaster’s body shifted. A blob of shadow separated partially from him like some sort of cell. It moved through the air like a ribbon, reaching under Sans’s rib cage and attaching to his vertebrate. 

“Neat.” Sans said.

“Fascinating, isn’t it?” Gaster said. “My body no longer has a set physical form. I can manipulate it at will. Are you ready to begin the test?”

Sans searched Gaster’s face again, looking for that familiar expression. “Yeah.” 

Gaster rubbed his hands together, then closed his eyes. There was a moment of silence. The energy hit Sans like a ton of bricks. He gasped, and staggered backward into the wall.

“Does it hurt?” Gaster was wringing his hands. His drooping face made it look like he was always anxious.

“Heh,” Sans smiled reassuringly. “I was just surprised. Theres more power than I remember.”

“That’s good. You’ll need a lot more power. Can you take more?”

“I think so, yeah.”

Gaster closed his eyes again.

“Huuhg!”

“Does it hurt?”

“It’s fine, I got it.” Sans put his hand over his mouth. He slid down the wall to the floor, not trusting his legs to hold him, his chest heaving. This much power was kind of overwhelming. He could feel his face heating up, flushing deep blue. His entire body was burning.

“Could you take more energy Sans?” Gaster asked.

He gazed in his direction. It was weird not being able to read Gaster’s emotions anymore, but there was still something familiar there. Something he could trust? “S-sure. Uugh.” This next wave of energy caused Sans to double over.

“Is it hurting now?”

“I-I got it.” Sans’s head was starting to spin. This was definitely more power than he needed, wasn’t it? His hand were clenched into fists and his shoulders started to shake. 

“I don’t feel so good,”

“Does it hurt?”

“A little. I think we should stop.”

“How much does it hurt?”

“I don’t know, it hurts.”

“I need something more exact. On a scale of one to ten.”

Sans was shaking. “It’s like, a six. Can we stop now?”

“How does it hurt?”

“Wuh? Uhhhnn.” Sans winced. “Like my body’s burning up. Gaster stop this.”

Gaster’s face remained placid. “But you could take a little more, couldn’t you?”

The pain increased. Sans held back a scream. “Guughkk! I can’t take it, stop.”

“That’s interesting.”

“Gaster what’s wrong with you?” Sans gasped as another wave of energy struck him. He curled over, trying to yank the tendril of darkness off his vertebrate, but it wouldn’t let go of him.

“The experiment isn’t done yet Sans,” Gaster said, a little annoyed. “there are still several more stages I need to test, you’ll just have to hold on until then. Wait, what are you doing?”

Sans had crawled over to the machine.

“Don’t do that!” With alarming speed, Gaster moved to stop him, but it was too late. 

Sans pulled the machine’s power chord out of the wall. He felt a horrible cold creep up on his shoulder. The lights flickered, then came back on, but the chill still lingered. He turned. The room was empty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> watt are you gonna do about it? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHQHAHAHAHAHAHA  
> Why am Infatuated with a skeleton? Why the fuck am I infatuated with a skeleton? W H Y T H E F U C K? You get the point. The word of the day today children is indulgent! It means I’m taking myself and all of this way too seriously. I’m in too deep. I personally rarely read a fic unless it’s 1000 words of under so I don’t even know why I’m here.  
> I’ll update this fic on Tuesday probably. I have the whole story written out but because I base my self worth on the amount of hits I get, I’m going to upload this in parts. You get more hits if you upload chapters over a long period of time, right? That’s how Archive works?


	2. Brothering

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The sin will return. In the mean time, how about some cute brother shit. I enjoy writing cute brother shit almost as much as I enjoy being garbage. Uh... I wasn't sure if I should capitalize all of Papyrus's dialogue of not. I decided on not, because I don't think it works at well in written format as it does in game format. Also, then I would have to go back and de-capilalize all of Sans's stuff. And write Gaster in wingdings? Eh, whatever.

Sans woke up to an unpleasant sensation. There was something cold on his forehead. He reached up found there was a wet towel covering his face. 

“Wha..?” He sat up slowly. His joints ached. Since he had removed the towel, a burning feeling was creeping into his body. It did made forming coherent thoughts difficult. 

He noticed he was lying in a race car bed. This wasn’t his room. No sooner than he had thought this, the door flew open and Papyrus strode inside carrying a tray. “Sans! You’re awake.”

“Hey bro,” Sans blinked. “is it morning already?”

“It’s afternoon, actually.” Papyrus said, pulling up a chair.

“Oh. How long was I asleep?”

“Only a few hours. You’ve done it brother. I don’t know how, since you never do anything and are also a skeleton, but you are sick!”

“Sick?”

“Yes. You have a fever.” Papyrus placed a hand on Sans’s forehead. “You’re burning up. I can feel it through my glove.”

“I’m pretty ok bro.”

“Really?” Papyrus sounded genuinely impressed.

A pang of guilt ran through Sans and he sunk back into bed. “I’ve been better I guess.” He said.

“Never fear brother! I went to the inn keeper, and she told me all the things I have to do to make you better. I am now an expert. I will nurse you back to health!” Papyrus set the tray on Sans’s lap. It was spaghetti, but it smelled like death. “Its good for you to have food when you are sick. The inn keeper suggested soup, but soup is stupid so I made spaghetti.”

“That’s really nice Papyrus, what did you put on it?”

“Pepper. It’s good for you. That’s what the inn keeper told me.”

“Are you sure she didn’t mean cayenne pepper?”

Papyrus squinted. “What’s a cayenne?”

“Never mind. This is really nice.”

“You should also drink plenty of water. I have provided you with some.” Papyrus indicated the floor next to the bed, where there was a bucket of half melted snow.

Sans felt giddy, like his stomach was full of air. “Thanks bro.”

“No problem.” Papyrus said proudly. There was an awkward silence. “Sans, what happened last night?”

“What do you mean?”

“I found you lying in the snow outside. You were hurt.”

“I’m sick, right?”

“I suppose.” Papyrus knit his brow. “You would tell me if anything were bothering you, right Sans?”

“Don’t you mean brother-ing me?”

“OH MY GOD!” Papyrus fumed in silence, trying to maintain his composure for the sake of his sick patient. “I’m glad your feeling good enough to make jokes. Do you feel like you might be ok by yourself for a little while today Sans?”

“Yeah, I’m sick not helpless.”

“You see, Undyne is taking the day off, and she’s asked me to help with the royal guard.”

Sans sat up. “Bro! That’s great!”

“Yes. She only wants me to help with the organization and things, she doesn’t want me going into battle.”

“But still!”

“I know!” Papyrus looked a bit uncomfortable. “This is an excellent opportunity for me to prove how well suited I am to be part of the royal guard. I just wish that it didn’t have to coincide with your sickness.”

Sans flopped back on the pillows. He was starting to cool down a little, although he still felt weak. “Nah man, I’ll be fine.”

“Are you 100% super duper positive?”

“Absolutely.” Sans grinned. “This is your dream bro. Just hearing about it makes me feel better.”

“Alright. You know you can call me at any moment if you need me?”

“I’ll call if I need you”

Papyrus cheered up. “Wowie! I can’t believe I’m finally getting a chance to be a part of the royal guard. Temporarily, maybe, but this is only the beginning! I need to make sure I look my best. I’ve been practicing my heroic poses.” Papyrus stood up, hands on his hips, and stared dramatically into the distance.

“So cool.” Sans said happily. “You’re gonna knock em dead.”

“So you don’t mind if I go now?”

“Yeah, you don’t wanna be late.”

Papyrus picked the wet towel off the floor where Sans had left it and put it back on Sans’s forehead. “There you go.” He said cheerily, then he got up and left the room. “Call me if you need anything.”

Sans waited until he heard Papyrus leave out the front door before removing the towel again. He lay there, staring out the window. In the distance, he could see where the freshly fallen snow gave way to gravel. He rolled over and stared at the ceiling instead. The lights were off in the room. Now that Papyrus was gone, his mind kept coming back to Gaster. His memories from last night were still a little fuzzy. There was something about the way Gaster had looked at him. It was familiar, but maybe not in the way Sans had hoped. Thinking about it made Sans’s head hurt.

Something moved at the window. Sans turned to see it but it was gone. He got up, his bones creaking as they left the warmth of Papyrus’s bed, and went to the window. There was nothing unusual, but he couldn’t shake this bad feeling. He got the blanket from the bed and wrapped it around his shoulders like a cloak. Sans left Papyrus’s room and stood on the landing overlooking the house. The shadows in the corners seemed longer and darker. 

Sans put his hands over his face and sighed, trying to rub the anxiety out of his head. He picked up the ice cold plate of spaghetti and went downstairs, stopping by his room to get a pair of slippers. He went outside and was greeted by cold, dry air. The snow was soft and made no noise as Sans made his way to the back of the house where the woods began. If he hid the spaghetti in the house, Papyrus would probably find it and be hurt. He could just hide it somewhere in the woods. 

Sans stopped. Something was shining in the snow. It was the key to his lab. He must have dropped it last night when he was stumbling around in the dark. He wiped the sweat off his forehead. This was more activity than he usually subjected himself to on a good morning. 

Sans hesitated, then picked the key up. He set the spaghetti down behind a tree then turned to the lab door. It was unlocked, and, carefully, he opened it. It was dark inside the lab. A low drone was emanating from the corner, where a green light was flashing. The machine was on again.

Sans shut the lab door. The harsh whiteness of the snow around him pounded against his head. He started to sweat. He took a deep breath and swallowed, then opened the door again and flipped the lights on. The air inside the lab was hot and stifling.

“Hey doc, are you there?” Sans took a step inside the lab. “Sorry for backing out on you earlier, but you weren’t listening to me. You were kind of freaking me out. But, uh, now maybe you’d like to talk again?”

The lights flickered. The air in front of Sans began to buzz and slowly, Gaster appeared. His empty eye sockets made Sans shiver.

“Um, listen doc.” He said. “I meant to tell you this last night, but… I’ve been thinking, maybe we should stop. With the experiments and everything.”

“…I see.” Gaster said. “You lack motivation?”

“If I thought there was a way, I’d be all for it. I guess that why I let you drag me back into it last night. But you know, maybe it’s better to just learn to be happy with what you have.“ Then suddenly, it hit him. It was as if a cold knife had stabbed Sans through the heart. Why that expression looked so familiar. “Doc, how many times have you been here before?”

Gaster sighed. “In your limited perspective of time and space, this is my first time being here, but I have seen this before. You seem to be under the disillusion that there is a way to come back from the fourth dimension. Even now Sans, my mind is in many timelines, many times, many places, all at once. You’ll forgive me if I’m a bit impatient with you’re attitude. If you can’t find motivation, I’ll have to find a way to give you some.”

Sans felt a chill run up his spine as the lab door slammed shut. Something grabbed him by the ankle and pulled him to the ground, his head cracking against the floor. He saw stars. 

“I’m taking you with me.”

“Nope” Sans tried to summon a bone to protect himself and his eye exploded with blue fire. He was still full of energy from last night and he couldn’t control it. Fire consumed the lab, licking the walls and sending the shadows scattering back to the corners. His bones were burning but Sans managed to scramble to his feet and get to the machine. He tried to switched it off, but the switch was covered in sticky black stuff.

“Dammit!” Sans was grabbed again by the darkness and thrown violently against the wall. His vision flashed white as his skull hit the plaster. The shadows pinned his arms and wrapped around his face, covering his eyes. He couldn’t see anything but he could feel Gaster inches away from him, those bored, hungry eyes feeding off his panic. Sans tried to think, but his head was stinging and fractured, and he could feel his pulse in his left eye, pounding like it was trying to leap out of his skull.

“I’m looking forward to this next experiment.” Gaster said. “I’m sure it will be very interesting.”

“Ggghu” The darkness around Sans’s eyes began to tear, blue light breaking through through. Sans let go of the energy inside him, scattering the blackness that engulfed the lab. Gaster barely retreated but it was enough. Sans teleported away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please do let me know if there are any spelling or grammar mistakes, cause those happen a lot with me.
> 
> Tbh, I know I like to pretend like this fic is super sinful, but it really isn’t. It’s suggestive, sure, but I know you all have seen much much worse. I took that test about which level of hell your going to, and I got fucking purgatory. I took a RPG alignment test and got lawful good. I’m about as hardcore as a loaf of bread. But lets just keep pretending I’m a bad kid cause that’s much sexier.
> 
> Next Update will come on Thursday is everything goes according to plan.


	3. Just Chillin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter there's a part where the characters text. I indicated this used italics. I would like to do the thing where one side of the text it centered right and one is center left, but it didn't really work for me on Archive. Also, in my fanficiton days, we used lines to indicate a subject change or whatever. I used that here, but Archive also doesn't have the line breaks. Eh, whatever.  
> There are a bunch of people in Grillbys and none of them have official names, so I just used the names the wiki gave them. Fight me.

Sans fell to his knees in the snow, blue fire still dancing around his eye socket. He’d teleported to somewhere in Snowdin forest by the river. He bent down, scooping snow into his eye, trying to stop the burning. The ice turned to half melted slush in his hands but after a while, it started to help. The energy throbbing inside of him pulsed smaller and smaller until he could control it again. He got to his feet, stumbling a little, then froze.

Ahead in the woods, the shadows were moving. Sans shivered. He flipped his hood and heading back toward Snowdin. He felt like something was following him, but every time he glanced over his shoulder there was nothing. A lingering heat had set in his bones, and he knew no amount of snow would make it go away.

When he finally made it back to Snowdin, there was only one place he could think of to go. None of the Grillby’s patrons were surprised to see him stagger through the doors and take his seat at the bar next to the Red Bird.

“Can I get some ketchup Grillby?”

The fiery bartender stared at him silently.

Sans shut his left eye. “I’ve had a bit of a day.”

Grillby nodded.

“Sansy,” Said a Crazy Bun from one of the booths, tell me a joke.

“Ok. What happened to the guy who shop lifted a calendar?”

“What happened?”

“He got twelve months.”

Crazy Bun roared with laughter, knocking over a bear bottle. Sans felt his spirits lift a little. Grillby handed him a bottle of his own and he took a drink.

“Hey Grillby, what kind of shoes does a thief wear?”

“……..slippers…”

“Huh?” Sans looked down at his own feet.

“….pay your tab…”

Sans ignored Grillby and took another drink. He stayed there for a long time, telling Crazy Bun bad jokes whenever he thought of them but mostly remaining silent. Occasionally, he would look out the window with an odd look on his face. Something was always out there when he looked, just out of sight.

“Are you ok Sans?” The Red Bird sitting next to him asked.

Sans jumped, turning away from the window. “Well, like I said, I’ve had a bit of a day.” Sans didn’t know why he was talking. The ketchup made it seem like a good idea. “I made a mistake. I was just wondering, maybe this is gonna be the last time I get to feel this way.”

“What way?”

“Eh, forget it.” Sans said finishing his third bottle.

The door flew open with a bang. “SANS!” Papyrus stormed into the bar, another occurrence the patrons were used to by now. He marched up to the bar. “There you are Sans. Of course, the one day you have an excuse to do nothing, you decide to go wandering off on your own. You need to be resting, otherwise you’ll just get worse. Come on.” Papyrus tugged on his brother’s shoulder but Sans shrugged him off.

“No.”

“I don’t understand why you’re being so stubborn all of the sudden. Fine, I’ll just have to use my amazing muscles to carry you home.”

Papyrus took Sans’s shoulders and tried to lift him. He pulled away and fell off the stool. He hit his head on the floor hard and he felt blue fire flare in his left eye. It stung.

“I’m stayin here Papyrus,” He said angrily, shutting his left eye tight. “I ain’t sick.”

  
“You can’t stay here forever.”

“Oh yeah? Watch me.”

“no…”

Sans looked up. Grillby was staring at him. His anger faded. Everyone was looking at him with worried expressions on their faces.

“I think what he’s trying to say” The Red Bird said, “is that you don’t look so good Sans. Maybe you should go home and rest?”

Sans’s shoulders slumped.

“See?” Papyrus said. “Everyone agrees with me. I’m taking you home.” Papyrus picked Sans up and this time, he didn’t resist. He was carried helplessly out of the warm light of Grillby’s into the fangs of the wind outside. It was dark.

“I thought you said you would be fine taking care of yourself for a day,” Papyrus said, stomping through the snow.

“I did,”

“Sans, you look even worse than you did this morning. Although, your temperature has gone down.” Papyrus paused. “Hm. Is Grillby’s really curing you?”

“Ah, let’s keep moving.” Sans said, glancing around nervously. “If we go back, Grillby will probably just kick us out again.”

“Ok.”

As they reached the house, Sans looked over his shoulder. He felt like the darkness beyond the trees was watching him.

“Alright,” Papyrus said, closing the front door, blocking the view of the trees. “I see that, as always, you are quite helpless without me. Prepare to be nursed back to health by the great Papyrus.”

Sans shrugged. His heart was beating like a hummingbird.

Papyrus’s eyes narrowed. “You’re shivering. Go stand in the corner.”

“Why?”

“It’s warmer there because its… 90 degrees!”

“Heh heh. Nice bro.”

“I know, it was terrible.” Papyrus said. “But I’m willing to lower my standards for the sake of my brother’s health.”

Sans smiled as wide as he could. He didn’t feel happy. At the very least he wouldn’t involve Papyrus in this mess. He had to convince Papyrus nothing was wrong.

“Now, I shall make some spaghetti,” Papyrus said. “since you liked the first batch I made so much. You even ate the plate! I couldn’t find it when I got back. Why don’t you lie on the couch and rest?”

Papyrus headed for the kitchen and Sans crawled onto the couch. Something was just outside the window. He turned his back on it and opened his phone. desperate times called for desperate measures. It was time to socialize. He opened text messages.

_hey undyne the fuck is up?_

“Gah!” Sans yelled as something smothered him from behind. He flailed and yanked it off his head only to find a blanket.

“You need to stay warm brother!” Papyrus called.

“Ok bro,” Sans said, giving a thumbs up. He couldn’t stop his hands from shaking. “sure thing. Maybe don’t throw things at me though?”

“It is good for you. It makes your heart beat faster.”

“I don’t think that’s a problem for me right now.” Sans looked back at his phone. Undyne had responded.

_ANIME MARATHON W ALPHYS_

Undyne had recently figured out how to make her phone do capslock. It was a power she loved to abuse.

_cool man_

_HERD U WERE SICK?_

_im ok_  
_you two should come over here. we just got a new tv_

_DOOD ALPHYS TV BIG AS LIKE 17 NORMAL TVS NO THANK_  
_*THANKS_

  
_come on, the more the merrier right?_

_THN GET UR LAZY ASS OVR HERE_

Sans looked over his shoulder out the window. The wind was howling outside. If he went, Alphys would probably figure it out anyway. Another dead end. Quietly, he closed his phone and put it away.

“Brother?”

“Yeah Papyrus?”

“We’re out of tomatoes.”

“…Oh.”

“I’m going to have to go get some, you can’t have spaghetti without tomato sauce.”

“Papyrus wait!” Papyrus stopped at the door. Sans swallowed trying to calm himself down. “T-think you could stay here?”

“I’ll only be gone for five minutes.” Papyrus said, “Really brother, you’ve been acting kind of weird lately. Is something the matter?”

“N-no bro.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. You go get tomatoes.”

Papyrus’s eyes narrowed. “And be ok? You’ll stay here?”

Sans tried to smile and hoped it looked convincing. “Why would I leave?”

Papyrus looked a little worried, but he left anyway. The shadows didn’t even wait till he was all the way out the door to converge on Sans. Sans didn’t wait either. He braced himself, then, with a flash of white hot pain, teleported away.

_________________________________________

  
Sans ended up in the Waterfalls. Wasn’t what he wanted, but he’d take it over teleporting again. He set off for the nearest house. The shadows were closing in behind him and he quickened his pace.

Sans made it to the house and started hammering on the door. After a few moments, it was answered by a ghost wearing headphones.

“Heya,” Sans said. “I’m Sans. Look, I know you don’t know me, but do you think I could stay at your house for a while?”

The ghost stared. “…It would be rude of me not to… I guess…” They opened the door wider and Sans came inside.

“Thanks man. I owe you one.” Exhausted, Sans took a couple of steps into the house and collapsed face first on the floor. He had a splitting headache, probably from all the magic he’d been using.

“Oh… You have a family tradition too?”

“Huh?”

The ghost hung their head shyly. “Never mind…” They floated gingerly around Sans, then went to their computer. Sans dragged himself further into the house and lay on his back, looking up at the ceiling. Ah yes, nothing, his favorite thing to do.

“So, what’s your name?” The ghost didn’t answer. Sans looked up to see that his host had headphones on. A music making program was open on their desktop. Sans moved to stare at the ceiling again but something caught his eye. A black blob in the corner. It was the darkness. It rose silently and three white shapes emerged from it. Two empty eyes. A melting grimace.

Sans was frozen in horror. Gaster wasn’t attacking him, but he was definitely there, in the corner. Just… chilling. Sans thought he remembered having a nightmare almost exactly like this. He reached into his pocket but it was empty.

“Do you got any ketchup?” He asked.

“I have some in the fridge…” The ghost didn’t move— they didn’t seem to have noticed anything— so Sans reluctantly got up and went to the fridge. There was a head of lettuce inside, along with a tub of yogurt, some sandwiches, and a bottle of ketchup in the back. Sans tried to pick it up but his hand went right through it. He sighed, then sat down on the floor again. He glared at the shadows in the corner. They were crawling slowly along the walls like some kind of mold.

The ghost had a clock in his house. It was broken. It hung there on the wall, hands eternally indicating 11:00. There was a feeling creeping up on him, a stifling, curdling feeling, making his joints twitch. It was stifling. When it reached his neck the feeling materialized into a whisper. “Why here, of all places?”

Sans didn’t answer.

“Is this how you’re giving up?”

“Back off Doc.”

“Or what?”

“I’ll call for help.”

“No, you won’t.” Gaster said.

“Mmf!” Something strong wrapped around Sans’ face, stifling his cries. He was yanked backward into the burning darkness and disappeared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember when Napstablook ignored the apocalypse? Yeah…  
> I’m not sure if Blooky and Sans ever met in the cannon. If any of y’all have some info concerning that, feel free to hit me up. Punch me in the face, throw me off a cliff, burry me in a shallow grave. Isn't it cute how sometimes I use stylized text for the characters and sometimes I don't? Yeah.....................  
> We got a cameo from Blooky and Undyne in this chapter, and I bet up until now you were wondering what the hell they were doing in the tags. Actually, I bet you weren't.  
> Buckle your seat belts children, cause Saturday's gonna be wild...


	4. But Nobody Came

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sin returns.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BOY HOWDY  
> This is the worst thing I've ever put on the internet. Honestly, if you have any triggers, you can just skip this chapter, cause we’re turning this amp to eleven. (spinal tap reference that is absolutely not suited for this.) What I’m saying is, I’m gonna hurt the little skell, and if you don’t read this the rest of the fic will probably still make sense. But for those of you who are also fucking sadists, welcome to my special hell. Make yourself comfortable. Don’t sit in the big chair, that’s mine.  
> I could’ve used the time I spent on this chapter to write a book, or go outside, or find a nice man to settle down with and have six beautiful blonde children. But I didn’t.  
> Fun fact, If I don’t name the chapter after a horrific pun or something equally immature, I’m naming it after a song from the soundtrack that I think compliments the chapter. And, funnily enough, I know this chapter is titled But Nobody Came, but the track that actually goes best with this is In My Way.

It was burning. Sans couldn’t see, he could barely breath. He felt like he was being ripped apart slowly. Then, suddenly, he found himself in a gray room. He got to his feet unsteadily, shaking from head to foot.

“Welcome,” It was Gaster’s voice but Sans didn’t see him anywhere. “to my new lab.”

Sans bones started to heat up again as a blue ring of energy surrounded him.

“You know you can’t fight me in my own dimension, surely Sans.”

Sans shrugged. He felt like he was gonna throw up. “I got nothing else to do.”

“You could always just cooperate.” Black ooze was dripping from the places where the ceilings, walls, and floors met. It was closing in. “Just like the old days.”

“Yeah, well, the old days were different.” Sans was trying to sound calm, but his voice was shaking. He had surrounded himself in blue light, his left eye was glowing. “You were different. You didn’t used to like hurting me.”

“You gave me permission, didn’t you? To do what had to be done?”

“I’d still do that. I don’t give a damn about me, but you can’t seriously think this is scientific, it’s just torture.” A white dragon-like skull appeared out of nowhere. Sans aimed it at the wall and fired a white beam of energy. He could feel the individual bones in his hands shaking, alive with friction. He put everything he had into it, but the light faded, the skull disappeared, and the wall was still there.

“What part of my dimension did you not understand?” Gaster asked. “I’m insulted that you would even try to us the weapon I gave you against me here.”

Sans shoulders slumped. His heart was pounding, his legs felt numb, but what was he gonna do? Run? Gaster would find him eventually, if the thing that stood before him even was Gaster anymore. Sans didn’t want to think about it. Recently, he’d been finding it harder and harder to find a way out. There was a crushing hopelessness lurking in the corner of his soul and he could feel it creeping up again. Maybe the braver thing to do would be to just give up. Then, at the very least, Gaster would only hurt him, and he deserved it probably. 

The darkness had gathered in the corners of grey room and now, it surged toward him. It hit the energy field around him and stopped. Sans felt nauseous. The only thing keeping him going was fear. He was trying to give up now, but every time he did, the memory of pain returned to him and he kept fighting. He feed the shield energy, but it was starting to shrink.

“Stop fighting me.” Gaster hissed. 

Sans felt the pressure against his shield triple. It trembled, then shattered, and the darkness took him. He was thrown around roughly, like a pebble caught in a wave. The stuff surged around Sans, then slowed, twisting him around and pushing him toward the surface. He emerged in a kneeling position, his arms and legs restrained. Gaster had reformed and was standing in from of him.

“You couldn’t keep it up forever could you?”

“I’m pretty good at giving up.” Sans shrugged, panting, still trying to catch his breath.

“Hmm.” Gaster frowned. “Only one HP? That won't do. Open your mouth.”

Sans kept his mouth resolutely shut. Gaster approached him and grabbed his chin. He felt the darkness up his neck and over his face, trying to pull his jaw down.

“Please try to be reasonable,” Gaster said. “I can’t work with you at such low HP.” His body fluctuated and his eyes bulged. Black tar began to leak from his face like tears.

“Gk-“ Sans’s mouth was pried open as Gaster leaned forward, dripping. “Nuh-h- huuak-”

Sans choked as the tar like stuff hit his face. It was hot and filled his mouth and throat. Gaster gripped his head so that he couldn’t move away. Sans shut his eyes and tried to breath through his nose, his throat convulsing reflexively. He couldn’t breath right. The air was too thick and he was too afraid. The tarry blackness began to expand in Sans’s mouth and he moaned. He started to dip in and out of consciousness, his vision fading from white to black. Gaster finally stopped pouring over him and closed his mouth, covering his nose. Sans could feel the awful stuff moving inside him like it was alive but he forced it down. Gaster let him go and Sans retched and coughed weakly. Gaster watched dispassionately.

“Tell me about the timelines.” He said.

“Ah…gh- haah…” Gaster motioned with his hand and the shadows around Sans’s leg constricted suddenly, sending tiny fractures sprawling across the bone. Sans grit his teeth, his hands clenching into fists.

“Listen carefully.” Gaster said. “With some help, I’ve learned what power allows the human to keep coming back. Determination. You and I already had some idea of this when we began our experiments with the timelines, but now, I’ve discovered something truly interesting.”

Gaster’s melting face was alining into a grin. He waved his hand and the shadows tightened around Sans’s leg. “Are you listening to me? I want to make sure you’re paying attention.”

Sans nodded.

“Good. Here’s the interesting part. Determination is not just a power that can be distributed, it is also a position. Similar to the boss monsters powers, those who are determined are different from those who have determination. That’s where the ability to reset the timelines comes from. See, anyone can gain power from determination, and the ability to persist after death, but only those in the position of the determined can truly reset their fates. What’s more important,” Gaster’s eyes glittered. “this position can be earned, or transferred. You just have to be determined enough.”

“How will that help us?”

Gaster ignored Sans question. “Don’t you want power like that Sans?”

“No.”

“With a power like that you could protect your brother, you could free us all.”

“You don’t know that.” Sans said quietly.

Gaster sighed. “I’m sorry you don’t see the potential in this project. But that doesn’t matter. I’ll make you determined.”

“So you’re just gonna torture me until I have enough determination to reset the timeline? Is that what you’re saying?” 

The doctor’s face grew dark. “Do you think you know torture?” He said, menace in his voice. “Do you know what it’s like for a three dimensional being to exist in a four diminutional world? The horror is indescribable. There is nothing, and everything, all at the same time. I am only half four dimensional, three and a half dimensions. I am impossible. That, that is torture Sans.”

“I’m sorry.” Sans voice cracked. “I’m so sorry. We should’ve stopped. If I’d known I wouldn’t have gone through with it back then.”

“That’s not what I want from you.” Gaster’s voice was utterly flat with disappointment. “I want you to commit.” Gaster closed his fist and the darkness twisted Sans’s arm. There was a hideous crack and Sans cried out in pain.

“I’ve come too far for you to just give up and walk out on me.” 

“Gghh.” Sans was panting desperately, his eyes shut tight. Gaster kept twisting his arm further and further, and up, so that his shoulder popped.

“Commit to this, commit to me. Make sure my sacrifice isn’t wasted.”

Another crack. “Aaaah” Sans screamed and started to cry. “I’ll do it! I’ll do it!”

“You’ll do it either way,” Gaster said. “I want to know if you’ll be helpful this time?”

“I’ll help! Please!”

“Good.” Gaster dropped Sans, who hit the floor and curled into a fetal ball. “This will make things much easier for me.” 

Sans wiped the tears from his eyes with his unbroken arm. He just wanted it to stop. He was lifted by the darkness and his stomach started to hurt again.

“We’ll skip name, age and the rest,” Gaster said, “I have your old records, but there are some areas that need updating. How many hours of exercise to you get every week?”

“None.”

“How many hours of sleep do you get?”

“Four or five a week.”

“Do you eat three meals a day?”

“No.”

“How many?”

“Hard to keep track. I don’t usually feel hungry.” Sans eyes flickered. He was exhausted from the constant pain and fear, and waves of unconsciousness were beginning to wash over him.

“What about your brother, Papyrus?”

“I won’t answer questions about him.”

Gaster frowned a little. “Fine.” He moved on to the next question. “Do you find you have little interest or pleasure in doing things you usually enjoy?”

“Yes.”

“How often to you feel depressed or hopeless?”

“A lot.”

“Please be specific.”

“Almost every day.”

“Do you feel tired?” Gaster waited for a response. “Do you feel tired?” He repeated. Silence. Sans had fallen asleep. Gaster sighed and made a motion with his finger. The blackness around Sans twisted his broken arm and he awoke with a cry.

“Do you feel tired?” Gaster asked.

“Y-yes.” Sans said. “Almost a-all the time.”

“Have you had thoughts that you would be better off dead?”

“Yes.”

“Have you ever tried to kill yourself?”

Sans hesitated. “Yes.”

“How many times?”

“Once.”

Gaster nodded. “Very good. See? Things go by much faster when you cooperate.”

Sans didn’t say anything. He was drained. The hopelessness had overtaken him and he didn’t want to move or be awake. He shuddered as his arms were pulled behind his back. A thick chord of the darkness attached itself to the back of his head, two more slightly smaller ones wrapped around his neck and between his teeth, forcing his mouth open, gagging him. That feeling was at least familiar. This felt like an experiment he knew.

“I’m going to charge your body with energy again,” Gaster explained. “there are ten stages. This is to test your pain tolerance, and energy capacity.”

Sans nodded. The darkness tasted like tar

“Each test will last five minutes. We will text your endurance time later. I want you to think carefully about the pain you feel, so that you can describe it to me when we’re done.”

The first stage was the same as it had been back in Sans’s lab. Overstimulating. He didn’t try to contain himself this time, there was no point. After all the pain, the pleasure hit him twice as hard. He lay there, face flushed, breath heavy and ragged, moaning softly as the energy coursed through his body. Gaster seemed bored with this. He reached between Sans’s teeth and pulled his tongue out, causing Sans to moan louder. Gaster examined at it, glowing blue with energy and drool. He kept pressure on Sans’s tongue.

“This is a good color.”

“Hhhuhn” Sans wasn’t sure if he was supposed to respond.

Gaster let go of Sans’s tongue. “Does this feel good?” He asked, increasing the amount of energy.

“Ha- aahhh,”

“Answer me.” Gaster said, grabbing one of Sans’s ribs

“hha guh” Sans head felt fuzzy. 

Holding him down with one hand, Gaster pulled Sans’s rib out. It began to splinter and Sans howled.

“N-no! Aaaaah! Stop! Stop!”

“Tell me what you feel.”

“Aah I-I- Uaagh.”

Gaster wrenched Sans’s rib. Blood was oozing from it.

“It hurts! Gaster please!”

Gaster let go of Sans’s bones. Sans was trembling all over, hopelessly overcome. “You told me you would be helpful. Help, or be punished.”

It was around the third stage that it started to really hurt again. Stage six, Sans lost consciousness. Gaster was waiting for him when he woke up. He’d done something to Sans so that it would be harder for him to pass out. This made stage seven the worst. Sans couldn’t faint no matter how hard he tried, and he was all too aware that it made Gaster happy, to watch him writhe on the ground in agony. Every time Sans was slow to give an answer to Gaster’s questions, Gaster would break something, usually a rib. Sans couldn’t remember the numbers anymore, so he made some up. Gaster just wanted to hear numbers. They didn’t need to be the right ones. 

He blacked out as soon as stage ten started and when he woke up, Gaster was standing over him, smiling. 

“You’ve done well today.” He said. “You’ve earned a little break. I’m going to let you out for a day, and then I’ll be back. You know better than to run from me. If I can’t get you to be my test subject, I’ll be forced to find another one, and you know who’s first on my list of candidates, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“So you won’t try to run away from me, will you?”

“Yes.” The coil tightened around San’s neck and he whimpered. 

“Yes meaning you will try to run away, or you won’t?” Gaster said, irritated. “Be specific for god’s sake.”

“I won’t try to run.” Sans whispered, hands shaking. “I won’t…”

“Good.” 

The darkness released Sans’s neck and arms, laying him gently on the ground.

“I’ll see you in a day.” Gaster said, then he flickered, and disappeared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, hello? I would like to purchase a one way ticket to skeleton hell. The flyer says if I sin hard enough I can get it for free.


	5. Don't Give Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back to Burn Everything’s wild misery ride.  
> Fun fact, I named this chapter after a track on the soundtrack that I think goes really well with it. Or at least parts of it.  
> I never liked the term Hurt/comfort and I don’t know why. But that’s kind of what this chapter is. Hurt, comfort, and anime. It’s basically an anime. Just read it, alright?

Sans was spat out somewhere in the Waterfalls and lay huddled on the ground shivering for a long time. The distant sound of falling water and the cool glow of the bioluminescent pools around him was hypnotic. “Ah well,” He thought. “I probably couldn’t stand if I tried right now.” 

He stayed like that, drifting in and out of consciousness. “I have to get back to the house before Papyrus notices I’m gone.” He thought. Still, he didn’t move. 

Time passed. Sans was no closer to moving. Out of his half conscious stupor, her heard the crunch of gravel under boots. He lifted his head. Papyrus was standing in front of him. 

“Sans?” Papyrus looked completely stunned.

“Hey bro,” Sans said, pushing his hood over his head and managing a smile. “mist me? Water you doing around here? Heheh, anyway, I was just taking a nap. What’s with that look?”

Silently, Papyrus strode toward Sans. He knelt down and hugged his brother tightly. 

“Ahk! C-careful”

“Where have you been?” Papyrus let Sans go. His face was distraught.

“I went for a walk.” Sans said, trying to reestablish a smile on his face.

“A walk? You’ve been gone for a week.”

It was like the floor had disappeared. “A week?”

“Yes. What on earth happened?”

Wispy lights rose off the ground around them. Sans’s mind was blank. The distant sound of the waterfall roared loud in his ears.

“What is this?” Papyrus reached forward, but Sans shuffled away, pulling his hood further over his face. 

“It’s nothing.”

“Let me see.”

“There’s nothing to see.”

“What happened to your arm?” 

Sans heart fell. Papyrus reached out to take his arm, but he moved away again.

“There’s blood…” 

It broke Sans’s heart to see Papyrus so upset. “Its- its really ok bro,” He said, but the words were like a bandaid on a missing limb. Now that Papyrus was looking for it, evidence of the true extent of his brother’s pain was everywhere.

“… Can you walk at all?”

“Uh- Probably not.”

Papyrus nodded, then stood, scooping Sans up in his arms. Sans thought about protesting, but he was too tired. “Watch the arm.” He mumbled.

Papyrus didn’t say a word. He carried Sans back to the house in silence, and Sans, exhausted as he was, found it impossible to stay asleep. He would drift off only to be woken by his arm, or the throbbing in the back of his head, or a horrible hot feeling that would creep up on his senses like a cancer. He was awake when they reached home. Papyrus turned on the lights and set Sans down on the couch. He sat on the coffee table across from Sans, his face uncharacteristically glum.

“When you were missing,” He said. “I looked everywhere for you, but I couldn’t find you. I thought I might never see you again. To take my mind off it, Undyne helped me learn some new kinds of magic. I learned healing and I’m very good at it. If you let me, I can fix your arm.”

Sans shook his head.

“Please, let me do this for you.”

“It will heal by itself.”

Papyrus hung his head. “I won’t force you to let me help you brother, but when I see you hurting like this, it hurts me too.” He smiled weakly. “From now on, I’ll be here for you no matter what. So just tell me what you need.”

Sans felt a lump in his throat. The look on Papyrus’s face almost hurt more than his broken bones. “I— could you fix my arm?”

“Of course! I need to see it first though.”

“…Ok.” 

Sans took off his hoodie, gingerly, flinching and the fabric brushed against his arm. The hood fell off his head. Papyrus stared. At the base of Sans’s skull, the bone was burned and twisted. On the burn, there were teeth like marks. The bone wasn’t just fused it was torn up and mangled. It was like there was a starfish attached to his neck

“Can you fix it?” Sans asked.

“Who did this to you?” Papyrus’s voice was shaking with anger.

“I don’t want to tell you.”

“Why?”

“I messed up. If I tell you, your gonna get hurt.” Sans wiped his tears away angrily and sniffed. “Ah, what the hell. I-its… Do you remember W. D. Gaster?”

“The scientist you used to work with, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I thought you told me he disappeared?”

“I found a way to bring him back.” Sans shut his eye. “It-it was a bad idea. This is a bad idea. I shouldn’t be talking about someone who’s listening.”

“Listening?”

The lights flickered. Papyrus stood quickly and whipped around. The shadows were amassing in the center of the room, taking form. A darkness rose, a grinning darkness with a bone face and two hands.

“You!” Papyrus summoned a blue bone and pointed it at Gaster like a sword. “Are you the one who hurt my brother?”

“You must be Papyrus” Gaster said. “I’ve heard so much about you. It’s an honor to finally meet in person.”

“Stay away from my brother,” Papyrus’s eyes were starting to glow orange. “I won’t let you lay another finger on him.”

Gaster’s body shivered and he made an odd gurgling noise that resembled a laugh. “What determination!”

Sans lay motionless on the couch, hands over his face. The shadows were coming alive and wrapping around him, tugging him back. “You shouldn’t have told him Sans,” Gaster said. “now I have to take both of you.”

“Get away from him!” Papyrus slashed at the shadows covering Sans. They hissed and retreated. Papyrus picked his brother up and ran out the door, dodging the darkness now oozing from the walls and ceiling. The wind was howling outside, and the snow crunched beneath his feet.

“Never fear brother, I will protect you.” Papyrus said, setting Sans down with care.

“No.” Sans said, shivering. Shadows still clung to him like cobwebs. “Get out of here Papyrus, leave me.”

“Nonsense.” An orange glow enveloped Papyrus’s hands. He moved them over Sans broken arm. It felt cool, like water. The bones of Sans’s arm shimmered, then knit themselves back together. His shoulder jerked down, then back into place. When he was done with Sans’s arm, Papyrus moved to his leg.

Bulbous, morphing shadows where bubbling out of the house like lava. They were coming toward them. “P-papyrus, please run.”

“I’m not going to leave you.” 

Papyrus held his hands out against the oncoming darkness. Golden light blossomed from his heart, expanding into a protective dome. The darkness collided with Papyrus’s shield, and stopped dead. Sans was speechless. Shadows surged around them, thrashing like the wind, but it couldn’t break through. Papyrus ignored the turmoil outside. He moved the orange light over Sans’s ribs, then took Sans’s head in his hands. Sans shuddered. Black dust was drawn out of the burn on the back of his neck, like poison. The scored bone fluctuated, then softened until it was smooth again.

“Is that better?”

Sans nodded. “Papyrus… how…?”

“It was just hard work brother,” Papyrus said proudly. “hard work and training.” He hesitated. “I will admit, I felt rather discouraged at your disappearance, which might have motivated me to get stronger so nothing like that would ever happen again, but mostly, it was my greatness. The power that was in me all along.”

“Bro…” Sans was an emotional wreak, halfway between laughing and sobbing. “Thats the most anime thing I’ve ever heard.”

“What? I am nothing like those baby cartoons.”

“No really though.”

“Take that back or so help me-”

“Enough!” Gaster’s voice echoed inside the shield and the brothers covered their ears. “You can’t take him away from me. Sans is mine now.”

“Sans belongs to Sans I think.” Papyrus said. “To be perfectly honest, I don’t think you’re a very nice person Gaster. Sans used to speak very highly of you, but you’ve been very rude. If you think you’ve calmed down enough to be reasonable, then we can talk.”

Gaster hissed with frustration.

“Until then, I think you should leave. Sans, how do we get Gaster to leave?”

“I n-need to get to my lab.” Sans got unsteadily to his feet. “Can this thing move?”

“You bet!”

“Wow…” Sans started forward and Papyrus followed. As he did, the bubble of orange light moved with him, guiding the way through the darkness. They walked around the house, to the lab door, which was ajar. 

“I didn’t know you had a a secret lair back here.” Papyrus said, sounding impressed and perhaps, a little jealous. 

The shadow of something miserable passed over Sans’s face. “Yeah.” He said then he went over to the machine and turned it off. The wiring slowed, the green light flashed red, and the machine died. The shadows whirled wildly for a minute, then they to faded away. Gaster was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Papyrus is good and healing and shield magic because he’d rather protect people than fight them pass it on.  
> BOTH THEIR NAMES END IN S???? THE FUCK IS THIS BULLSHIT? SANS’S PAPYRUS’S SANSES SANSES’ PAPYRUS’SES’S??! I CAN’T WORK UNDER THESE CONDITIONS!  
> Thank you all so much for your support! I love reading comments when I get them, you are all very sweet. :) Will update on wednesday.


	6. Its Raining Somewhere Else

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this upload is a little later than I usually do, but don’t worry. It’s just as disappointing as you’d expect, with none of the action of chapters 4 and 5 and all the unnecessary fluff of chapter 2. I want to thank everyone who read this fic, because we only have two more chapters left. I think I already mentioned this, but it really means a lot to me when people comment. I love reading what you guys have to say. I'm usually too nervous to respond. Or is that just a poor excuse for being lazy? Hell if I know.

Sans and Gaster had devised a backup plan. Most of their research had been devoted to opening the void up, but in case they needed to keep something in, the machine could be turned into a destabilizer, shutting down the already tenuous connection they had established with the void. It took Sans a whole day to turn the machine into destabilizer. Papyrus stayed with him, making him spaghetti and helping him stay awake. Finally, Sans set down his tools and took a deep breath. He turned on the machine, then checked a monitor.

“Is it working?”

“Yup.”

“Good!” Papyrus patted Sans on the back. “A job well done, brother. I bet you want to sleep now?”

“Nah.”

“Of course you- Wait what?”

Sans dragged his hands down his face. He looked exhausted. “I don’t think I could sleep right now. You know what I really wanna do Papyrus?”

“What?”

“I wanna go to Grillbys and drink until I can’t feel anything.”

“Hmm…” You could see the wheels turning in Papyrus’s head. “I’ll allow it.”

“Thanks man.” Sans headed for the door and Papyrus followed. He followed Sans all the way to Grillbys. It was about 6:00pm. All the usual suspects were there. They gave Papyrus odd looks as he inspected the seat next to his brother.

“Grillbys, how long has it been since you cleaned this place?”

“He cleaned it this morning.” Red Bird said.

“Satisfactory.” Papyrus sat down. “One glass of milk please.”

“And I’ll have about…” Sans paused to calculate. “thirty bottles of ketchup.”

Grillbys waited for Papyrus to object, but he didn’t. The fiery bartender nodded, then went into the back room.

“One of these days, you should try getting something other than milk.” Sans said to Papyrus.

“Like what?”

“Like a milkshake.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s milk and ice cream.”

“That sounds too greasy for me.”

“No really, I think you’d like it. Its a bit thick but it’s really good.”

Grillbys came out with a glass of milk and a burlap sack filled with something. He set the milk down in front of Papyrus, then dumped the sack on the ground. He took one bottle of ketchup out of the sack and handed it to Sans. “Excellent,” the small skeleton said, “just keep em comin.”

“Are you feeling better Sans?” The Ugly Fish at the counter said. “I haven’t seen you in a week.”

Sans didn’t answer.

“My brother isn’t in the mood for talking right now,” Papyrus said, “but, as his nurse, I can confirm that he is on the road to recovery. This,” Papyrus gestured at the bottles already littering the counter, “is an important part of the healing process.”

“I see.” The Ugly Fish said. “Well, I don’t wanna interfere.”

“Hey Papy,” Crazy Bun called from her usual spot in the booths. “did’ja see the latest MTT episode?”

“I did!” Papyrus said enthusiastically. “I thought it was the best one so far in this season.”

“Really? I thought it was trash.”

Papyrus opened his mouth to retaliate but his phone rang. “I will explain to you in detail why you are wrong later,” Papyrus said, opening his phone. “Hello, Skeleton Residence. This is Papyrus, how may I help you?”

“Hey Papyrus, it’s Undyne. Are you ok? I haven’t seen you since yesterday.” 

“Undyne! I’m better than ok. You’ll never guess what happened.”

“What?”

“Sans came back!”

“He did?”

“He did!”

“He came back and you didn’t tell me about it?” Undyne’s relief changed to anger like summer storm clouds blotting out the sun.

“Uh—”

“YOU PIECE OF SHIT!”

“I meant to tell you but I forgot. I was really happy to see Sans again and he was doing science stuff, so I was busy helping him with that. Sorry.”

“OH, YOU AIN’T SORRY YET PUNK! BUT YOU’RE GONNA BE!”

“Ok, I’m going to hang up now.” Papyrus closed his phone, a pained look on his face. 

“Dude, are you gonna be ok?” The Red Bird asked Papyrus.

“I will be ok. Undyne and I are good friends, she’ll forgive me after a few good revenge tackles. … I might just hide here for a little while, until she cools down.”

“You wouldn’t be the first.” Red Bird said. “I’m surprised to see you here at all anyway. I thought you hated this place.

“Oh, I do hate this place, but I’m willing to do anything in order to take good care of my brother!”

The Red Bird looked over behind Papyrus. “Uh, your brother is currently crying into a bottle of ketchup.”

“WHAT?” Papyrus spun around in his chair to face Sans. His head was tears dripping silently down his face. 

Papyrus grabbed his brother’s shoulders and shook him. “BROTHER! You are upset?!”

“Lemme go Papyrus…”

Papyrus stopped shaking Sans and he slumped back onto the counter, crying.“I-its all my fault.” He groaned.

“What’s all your fault?”

“Everything. He’s gone now because of m-me.”

“There there brother, its ok.” Papyrus said, patting Sans on the back. “You did your best.”

“He’s stuck there f-forever now. H-h-he’s- he’s-“ A fresh wave of sobs overtook Sans. 

He fell into the arms of Papyrus, who held him patiently. 

“I killed him.” Sans said after he calmed down enough to talk.

“You didn’t kill him.”

“N-no, you’re right. I d-d-didn’t kill him. I doomed him to a f-fate worse than death.”

“That wasn’t what I meant.” Papyrus said. “He did a lot of the work himself. From what little I know about it, you saved him from a lot of things that could’ve gone wrong. If anything, it would’ve been a lot worse for him if you hadn’t been there. Am I right about that?”

Sans hiccuped, then nodded slowly.

“That’s right. It isn’t all your fault. You definitely didn’t deserve what happened.”

“You such a good brother.” Sans said, tearing up again, gripping Papyrus’s scarf tighter in his fists. “You’re just… such a bro.”

“You are too Sans. You’re the second best brother in the world!”

“Yeah? Who’s the first?”

“Me. Obviously.”

“You got that right! Grillby!” Sans yelled drunkenly, “Get this fine skeleton a drink on the house!”

“I don’t drink brother.”

“Don’t care! Grillby!” Sans pointed at the fiery bartender like a magician. Grillby glared at him.

“On the house Grillby!”

“…………that isn’t a thing…”

“I think we should go home now.” Papyrus said, taking a bag of gold out of Sans’s pocket and putting it on the bar.

“I wanna stay.” Sans took the bag from the counter and stuffed it back in his pocket.

“You can’t stand by yourself anymore brother,” Papyrus snatched the bag again and put it on the bar. “I’m taking you home. And we’re never leaving again.”

“Whut?”

“From this moment onward, we will never be out of each others sight.” Papyrus said. “If you went missing again, I think I would die from the stress alone.”

Sans started to laugh. He was laughing so hard, Papyrus just picked him up and carried him back to their house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm doing right by the little skell. He's been through too much. Let him rest a little. Don’t worry, the angst will return in chapter 7. Unfortunately, the sin is gone for good. Although…  
> I did write another Undertale fic, featuring Sans, and boy, it is sinful. It’s the worst thing I’ve ever written. Tell you what. If this fic gets 1000 hits, I’ll upload the sin fic after this one is done. So tell your friends. Spread the word. Or don’t. I might just upload the sin anyway. But if I know you all would be interested in reading it, I'll definitely be more likely to post it.  
> Update on Friday


	7. Safe and Sound

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I completely forgot to upload until now. Fuck! Don't worry though, the garbage man is here to deliver only the highest quality garbage to all her followers.  
> There are some journal entries in this chapter. I’m using the line thingy to separate entries from the other thing. Uh, if that makes any fucking sense. Whatever. Time for me to inflict some post pacifist head cannons on all y’all.

Papyrus woke up, Sans was waiting for him. He was in the kitchen, with a cup of coffee. “Hey bro,” He said.

“Good morning Sans, how did you sleep?”

“Pretty ok.” Sans shut his left eye. “I got a hell of a headache.”

“That’s your own fault.”

“Worth it.” Sans scratched at a stain on the coffee mug. “Uh… How busy are you today?”

“I’m always incredibly busy Sans.” Papyrus said. “I have to be constantly vigilant if I am going to catch a human.”

“They aren’t gonna show up today.”

“How do you know?”

“Trust me, I know.” Sans breathed out slowly. “So, since you aren’t busy today, there’s something I should probably show you.”

“What is it?”

“My lab.”

“Your secret lab behind the house?” Papyrus asked. “I already saw that.”

“Well, theres more stuff in there you should know about.” Sans said. “Look, I don’t think any of this really matters in the end, so I might as well try being completely honest with you for once. Just- come with me, alright?”

Sans took his coffee, wrapped a blanket around his shoulders, and went out the door. Papyrus followed. Sans led him down into the lab. The machine was still going, filling the room with a low electric drone. Sans sat on the ground cross-legged and Papyrus sat across from him.

“Ok,” Sans said. “So I know I told you about Gaster. He was the head of the research team I was on, back when I worked for the king. I never told you what we were working on, cause it was some pretty crazy stuff and, I donno. I didn’t want you worrying about it, getting hurt.”

“You worry too much about me brother.”

Sans shrugged. “Probably. Anyway…” Sans stood and entered a code into a keypad on the wall. A light on the pad blinked green, and the section of wall folded open, revealing a hidden safe.

“Gaster was always fascinated with time.” He said. “He started his research just out of curiosity, but he discovered some pretty interesting stuff… Uh, there are some anomalies in our timeline. Like, if our timeline is supposed to be straight, with a few branches here and there, ours does this thing where it breaks apart, and then loops back on itself. Does that make sense?”

Papyrus was squinting at Sans as if there was a very bright light just behind his brother’s head. He coughed and squared his shoulders. “Of course it makes sense. The great Papyrus understands exactly what you mean.”

“Heh,” Sans grinned a little. “Well, anyway. Gaster needed a hand, so he called me in. We wanted to find a way to fix our time line, in order to do that, we needed a fixed point in time. See, we don’t remember when our timeline is reset. That makes it pretty difficult to get any research done. This safe here is our fixed point in time. Anything you put in it will remain consistent throughout all timelines, safe and sound.”  
Sans chuckled, then got quiet again. “You know, uh, Gaster disappeared, but I kept checking the safe. And one day, I found these.” Sans entered a code into the safe and it opened. Inside, there were 14 journals.  
“Each of these journals has a life I don’t remember living.” Sans said. “None of them are pleasant.”  
Papyrus sat, a grave expression on his face. “Can I read them?”  
“That’s what I brought you down here for, but… are you’re sure you still want to?”  
“I’m positive.” Papyrus said, and Sans handed him the stack of journals. They were unlabeled, so Papyrus had to shuffle them around a bit before he found the first one. There was a list of rules scribbled on the inside of the cover:

________________________________________________

The rules:  
keep safe locked  
dont tell anyone the safe combination  
dont tell anyone your keywords  
keep it short. you will be temped to be all mushy and emotional, but dont. Remember none of this lasts forever.

______________________________________________

The last rule was written in a different color pen. It had been added later. Papyrus turned to the first page. 

______________________________________________

JOURNAL #1:

The human arrived today. I used the whoopee cushion trick to introduce myself. They didn’t laugh they. They looked pretty scared. They’ve killed several monsters, but think they did it in self defense. They got along real well with Papyrus. I like them myself. They like word searches, so they can’t be half bad. Yeah, not a bad kid all and all, just scared. Who wouldn’t be? Will write again when I get the time…

Took the human to Grillbys so we could chat. They ordered a burger. I pulled a prank on them again, and it seemed to cheer them up. Dropped a mention of the golden flower, and I could tell by the expression on their face that they knew what I was talking about. I’m gonna go meet them at the waterfall now.

Saw the kid again at the hot dog stand. They aren’t looking too good, but they seemed to cheer up when they saw me. We had a good time. They can stack up to 30 hot dogs on their heads. The kid’s got good balance. 

Took the human to that MTT resort place. I told them about the promise I made to that lady behind the door. I also told them… well, I told them if not for that promise, they’d be dead. That really scared them.

I met them again in the corridor before Asgore, and I tired to be gentle. Everything they did, they only did in self defense, and, well, I’ve grown kind of fond of the kid. They deserve to get out of this place. I know want to. 

Unfortunately, the human killed Asgore and left for the surface. I don’t hold a grudge. If we have time before the next reset, we’ll find a way to the surface, and then maybe we can see them again.

JOURNAL #2:

Human came back. When I met them, they didn’t seem afraid. They looked determined. They haven’t killed anyone yet.

The human made friends with Papyrus. They call him up on the phone all the time to ask for advice. He loves it. I had a chat with the human myself. Took em to Grillbys again, the only place to go really. They ordered fries this time. They’re laughing at all my jokes, like we’re old friends or something. I guess to them, we are. I like the kid, they make me feel a bit uncomfortable since they know so much that I don’t, but I like them.

Mentioned the flower again and the human’s expression was interesting. They got a fierce look in their eye. Maybe something went down between them and that flower? Wouldn’t be surprised.

Undyne lives in our house now. She and the human tried to cook spaghetti and burned her house down. Whenever the human calls, Undyne usually joins the chat. Papyrus and Undyne don’t know anything about Hotland, but they’re still trying to guide the human through. I met the human again at the hot dog stand. The human can balance over 50 hotdogs on their head. 

Met the human in the corridor again. I said something sappy about love, but it seemed appropriate considering they haven’t earned a single exp point. They’re nothing like what the first entry described. I can sense determination in them.

Turns out the human has a name! They’re called Frisk, and they’re our new ambassador. That’s right, we got out. I’m kicking myself because I don’t remember the details of what happened. That asshole flower showed up toward the end, and Frisk must’ve fought them. Maybe I’ll ask them about it later. Haven’t talked to them about the timelines yet. Part of me can’t believe this isn’t a dream.

This is the second day since we got out. Didn’t get a chance to write yesterday, too much was happening. Relations with the humans have been… rocky to say the least, but what were we expecting? Overall, I think we have a shot at making this work. Frisk is doing their best, really. They managed to get me and Papyrus a house and I haven’t left it since we got out. I deserve a break.

Day 4 of our happy ending. Frisk is doing an excellent job as our ambassador. Tensions are still high, but they’re determined as always. Frisk tells me that I should get outside more often. I can’t bring myself to go anywhere. I’m terrified that, at any moment, it’s gonna be reset. Frisk promised me they would never do that, but I’m not sure how much control they have over it. I spend most of my time inside, alone, doing nothing, and I never thought that would be a bad thing. Everyone else seems to be having a good time though. Papyrus likes to tell me about what he did each day, and that’s always fun. 

I think it’s been about 2 weeks. Our house doesn’t have a lot of paper. It doesn’t have a lot of anything in it yet. Everyone is still too busy to go shopping. Hard to keep track of time without a calendar. I asked Frisk to get me one, but they wouldn’t. They told me they forgot, but they lied. Frisk doesn’t want me counting the days.

Toriel told me a good joke today. What do they do with chemists when they die? They barium. What a woman.

Papyrus is cheerful as ever, and working hard. Today he went to a Human/Monster peace rally with Frisk. He does good at those. He gets to hang out with his favorite TV star, Mettaton. I don’t know how to feel about this, but I guess I don’t know how to feel about anything these days.

Today Papyrus and Undyne started their cooking show. MTT Entertainment managed to snag a TV channel of it’s very own. People up here really like Mettaton for some reason. I wasn’t sure at first, cause he’s a robot, but I think that’s only made him more popular. Anyway, Undyne and Papyrus’s pilot episode got good reviews.They made spaghetti, and nearly destroyed the studio, which I’m sure Mettaton isn’t very happy about but the viewers seem to love it. I think today is the happiest I’ve been in a long time. It gave me something to do all day. Let’s just say that anyone who gives my brother’s show a negative review is gonna get thrashed by a certain anon poster who makes really good jokes. 

Everyone’s been trying to get me out of the house forever now, and today they finally did it. I agreed to go stargazing. Frisk was pretty excited. I got out my old telescope, cleaned the red paint off it. It worked pretty ok. Toriel made pie and Papyrus made spaghetti. They packed us a picnic basket. Frisk didn’t let them come with us though. I think they knew I wanted to be alone. Maybe Papyrus and Toriel can come next time.

The stars. Man. I heard so much about them, but stories can’t prepare you for the real thing. It was a clear night and Frisk took me to a good hill for stargazing. There’s just so many of them. It made me feel small, but it was it was also kind of comforting. I might’ve cried a little, but Frisk promised they wouldn’t tell no body.

I can’t believe I’m writing this, but I think we might  
__________________________________________

The entry ended there. The timeline must’ve reset as Sans was writing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to name this fic "Journal Number 17," Referencing that one Gaster easter egg. I thought it would be cool if there were 17 journals in the safe. But I couldn't come up with 17 journals.
> 
> Last chapter on Sunday. Wow.


	8. Journal #15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wowie

Papyrus looked up when he had finished reading the second entry. Sans was staring at the wall, cold coffee mug sitting abandoned a few feet away. “Finished?”

“Not yet.”

“Ok. If you want to stop, that’s fine.” Sans sighed and rubbed his temples.

“Is there something the matter?”

“Ah, it’s nothing. Just the lights in here, they’re giving me a headache. Its…”

“Painful.”

“Yeah…”

Papyrus closed the second journal. “Well, how about you go upstairs and get some more coffee. That’ll help your headache.”

“No, I should stay with you while you read these.”

“You don’t have to. If you don’t take care of yourself, I will.”

Sans hesitated.

“I insist.” Papyrus said, shooing him out of the room.

Sans still looked a little worried, but he got up and left anyway. Papyrus frowned. Sans had left his coffee mug. How annoying. He found the second journal and began to read again.

______________________________________________

JOURNAL #3:  
The human reset the timeline. Seemed odd when we first met. Covered in black dusty powder. Killed everyone until they met Papyrus. Why are they back? Theory: wants to see what would happen if they killed all of us. Lost their nerve.

JOURNAL #4:  
No black dust this time. I asked them if they like word searches or crosswords better, and they said crosswords. Did they say that just to see what I would say? 

The human killed only Undyne.

I suspect that they human may be killing the woman behind the door (Toriel?) The human always come from the ruins. When I knock on the door after the human’s appearance, no one answers. I have not been keeping track of it until now so I don’t know how many times she has been killed. Investigate further.

JOURNAL #5:  
No black dust. Human destroyed Alphys’s robot. Is this a pattern? Theory: They want to see different outcomes before destroying everything.  
Human has killed the woman behind the door, probably multiple times.

JOURNAL #6:  
No black dust. Human’s eyes seem bored whenever I talk to them. Can’t blame them, I’m bored too. Human killed Undyne and Mettaton (Alphys’s robot) this time. With Mettaton gone, Alphys disappeared. I think the human expected this result. 

JOURNAL #7:  
They only killed Papyrus. I asked them if they think their powers come with responsibility. They said no.

JOURNAL #8:  
The human killed Papyrus, Undyne, and Mettaton (by extension Alphys.) Probably also the woman behind the door. Call me unprofessional, but I couldn’t bring myself to check this time. No one else was killed. I asked them again if they think they have responsibility. They said yes this time, I expect because they wanted to hear what I would say. Now we both know.

JOURNAL #9:  
Black dust. Human killed Papyrus. Killed Undyne. Killed all the monsters in their path. I killed them. The human appeared to be possessed by something (demon?) I suspect their spirit must be resting right now so I am writing this down while I can. So far as I can tell, it took them a while to give up trying, but I bet they’ll reset soon and try to beat me again. Number of times this has happened:  
_______________________

Underneath this entry, there were a number of tally marks. There were over 100.  
___________________________

JOURNAL #10:  
This time (and I think I’ve been doing this every time but I unfortunately haven’t been writing it down.) I tried sparing the human, and it worked. They were able to fight off the demon. Now I don’t know what to do with them. I’m keeping them in my house for now, but none of the others would let them live after what they’ve done. They’ll be dead soon if they don’t reset. They’re crying right now. I wonder if

JOURNAL #11:  
There is an anomaly in the data. Everything ends. Not sure exactly what this means, but it’s very bad. Could mean the end of all of us. I’m about to fight them, and this time, I know I won’t win. Probably won’t get to write it down. If I am reading this, it means that there must be some power running underneath this all, a more powerful reset? Ah well, it probably doesn’t matter anyway.

JOURNAL #12:  
Well, after reading such an ominous entry, I’m back again. The human showed up today, no dust.

They haven’t killed anyone yet. Were these journals some kind of joke? Cause they aren’t funny. I’m kind of starting to like the kid.

We made it to the surface today. I can’t shake this bad feeling, but everyone else is so happy. Maybe this time though, I’ll be wrong. Wouldn’t that be nice?

JOURNAL #13:  
What happened in the last entry? I don’t know. Do I really not remember anything from those other timelines? Sometime, I feel like I do. I’ve been having a lot of nightmares recently. I’m tried. I’m doing an experiment to see if I can take myself out of the timelines permanently. 

JOURNAL #14:  
It didn’t work. I’m stuck here. I think the human is getting tired too though. The time between the resets is getting longer.

 

__________________________________________

 

Sans sat in the living room, staring at the ceiling. A pen and paper lay on the coffee table. The paper was titled JOURNAL #15. He’d made it all the way to the kitchen, he’d even managed to make himself a cup of coffee. Then he remembered he had to write an entry for this timeline, and he figured he might as well do it before he we back down to the lab. But now… The room was dark and cool. He had to write something, anything would do, but he didn’t want to remember most of this timeline. He wanted to let it be lost to the vortex of entropy. As the thought this, he wondered how many other times he had felt this way. How many timelines had been too awful to write down? Sans felt the heaviness returning to his shoulders. He picked up the pen and wrote a few words.

__________________________________________

JOURNAL #15  
Tried to summon Gaster. Mistake. Do not attempt again.

__________________________________________

He folded the paper into fourths and stuffed it in his pocket. Papyrus was probably done reading now, he should’ve gone down to check on him sooner. Whatever happened, it wouldn’t matter in the end. The timeline would reset, and Papyrus would forget. Off the top of his head, Sans couldn’t imagine a timeline where he’d tell Papyrus again.

Papyrus wasn’t in the lab when he got there. A pang of worry shot through Sans’s brain. The safe was closed and hidden behind the wall again. Sans’s eyes narrowed. He opened the safe. The journals were inside, along with a new note. Sans picked up the note, confused at first, but one look at the handwriting dispelled any remaining mystery.

__________________________________________

HELLO SANS THIS IS SANS. I LIKE LAZING AROUND AND DOING NOTHING, AND I NEVER PICK UP MY SOCKS! THIS IS A MESSAGE TO YOU ABOUT THE TIMELINES. I THINK THAT TELLING MY BROTHER, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, ABOUT ALL THE TIMELINES IS A GOOD IDEA. HE DEFINITELY HAS NO WORRIES ABOUT IT, AND IS NOT IN THE LEAST BIT UPSET. HE IS NOT PHASED AT ALL. AND EVEN IF HE WERE, HE THINKS THAT IT IS NOT ALL HOPELESS. AS LONG AS THE HUMAN STILL HAS THE ABILITY TO DO GOOD, HE BELIEVES THAT IT IS WORTH HAVING FAITH IN THEM. THE SMALLEST POSSIBILITY FOR A HAPPY ENDING IS BETTER THAN NO POSSIBILITY AT ALL. MAYBE I DON’T NEED TO TELL PAPYRUS ABOUT THIS IF I DON’T WANT TO, BUT I SHOULD DEFINITELY NOT BE AFRAID TO ASK FOR HELP. I SHOULD KEEP TRYING, AND NOT LOSE HOPE, BECAUSE MY BROTHER, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, IT ROOTING FOR ME AND BELIEVES THAT WE CAN MAKE IT THOUGH.

-SINCERELY

THE GREAT, BUT NOT AS GREAT AS PAPYRUS, SANS.

__________________________________________

Theres only so much emotion one guy can go through in a week, right? Sans was reaching his threshold. His heart felt about as durable as a jelly bean. Rubbing his eyes, Sans held the letter to his chest as if it were his newborn son. What had he done to deserve a brother like Papyrus? He read the letter again. Papyrus hadn’t bothered to learn how to write lower case letters. He thought it was a waste of time to learn the alphabet twice. But his upper case letters were remarkably neat and even. 

Sans put the letter back in the safe where it belonged. He owed it to his brother not to shy away from happiness, not when Papyrus tried so hard to bring it to him. He could give it one more try, maybe. He took out his own entry and added a few notes before putting it in the safe too.

______________________________________________________

JOURNAL #15  
Tried to summon Gaster. Mistake. Do not attempt again. The void has changed him. He’s become detached. He hurt me. It may still be possible to bring him back, but use extreme caution with future attempts. Gaster can no longer be trusted.

Papyrus helped me out a lot. He pretty much saved me. I have the coolest brother ever. I told him about the timelines. I think he took it ok. Human still hasn’t shown yet. Maybe they never will. Maybe that’s for the best. Whatever happens though, it’s probably better if me and my bro face it together. We do ok by ourselves, but it’s nice to have someone who you can lean on when you need it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT TOOK ME 304 TRIES TO BEAT SANS. YOU THINK THIS IS A GAME? I KEPT TRACK.  
> Anyway, this fic has been really fun. I’m glad you all enjoyed it, you’ve all been great readers. We broke 1000 hits and you know what that means. It means there will be sin. I’ll post it soon, so stick around. Or don’t. Go outside. Play ball with your children. Whatever it is people do with their lives.


End file.
